JPH0349491Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to an answering machine that can be set from a remote location to a response mode in which it waits for incoming calls.

2. Description of the Related Art An answering machine is set in a stop mode in which it stops functioning as an answering machine when the user is at home, and must be switched to an answering mode in which the user waits for incoming calls when the user is out of the house. In case the user forgets to switch to the answering mode when he or she is out of the house, answering machines that can be switched to the answering mode from outside the home have been known. In this device, the signal is transmitted for a sufficiently long time, e.g.
The device is configured to detect a ringing signal of about 1 minute, and shift to a response mode after a certain period of time after the ringing signal stops.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Regarding this conventional device, from the user's point of view, in order to switch to answering mode, the user calls home from outside the home and holds the ringing signal for a predetermined and sufficiently long time. It is necessary to send a message and hang up after this time has elapsed. On the other hand, the telephone answering machine shifts to the response mode after a predetermined period of time from the stop of the ringing signal only when it receives a ringing signal for the predetermined period of time. In this way, the condition for switching to the response mode includes a certain period of ring silence, ie, hanging up the phone. Therefore, in order to confirm that the user has switched to the response mode, the user must call home again and ask whether a message is sent from the answering machine, which is inconvenient. Furthermore, if such confirmation is not made, there is the inconvenience that the time must be measured so that the calling signal is sent for at least a predetermined period of time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an answering machine capable of switching to an answering mode, which does not have the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Means and Effects for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, the answering machine of the present invention is connected to receive a ringer signal, and when the ringer signal satisfies a predetermined condition during stop mode operation, a switching signal is sent. Equipped with a switching means that generates
This switching signal activates response mode setting means for setting the answering machine to response mode.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic structure of the answering machine of the present invention. Answering machine 1
0 is connected in parallel with the telephone set 2 as shown. Specifically, a telephone line control circuit 12 connected to the chip and ring terminals, a ringer signal detection circuit 14 that receives a ringer signal from this circuit, integrates and shapes the ringer signal, and outputs a ringer pulse, and a ringer signal detection circuit 14 that outputs a ringer pulse. stop mode setting means 16 which is actuated by the mode setting switch to generate a control signal for setting the stop mode and a stop mode instruction signal indicating the stop mode; response mode setting means 18 for generating a control signal;
and is connected to receive the ringer pulse and the stop mode instruction signal, and checks whether the received ringer pulse satisfies a preset switching condition when the stop mode instruction signal is present, and outputs a switching signal when the condition is satisfied. A switching means 20 is provided. The preset switching conditions include a predetermined duration of the ringer signal, or a predetermined number of ringer signals, such as a predetermined number of ringers.

With this configuration of the invention, the response mode setting means is activated when the duration or number of ringer signals satisfies a predetermined condition, thereby switching from the stop mode to the response mode. If the ringer signal continues to be received after switching to the response mode, the device responds to the ringer signal in the response mode and performs predetermined response operations such as line connection and message transmission.

Embodiment An embodiment of the answering machine of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. This embodiment uses a microcomputer 22 to
This implements the stop mode setting means 16, response mode setting means 18, and switching means 20 of the basic configuration shown in the figure. The telephone line control circuit 12 is equipped with a circuit that supplies a ringer signal from the telephone line to the next ringer signal detection circuit 14, and is further equipped with a controllable line connection switch and a voice transmitting/receiving circuit. There is. Ringer signal detection circuit 14
has a circuit that integrates and shapes the received ringer signal, thereby generating ringer pulses. This ringer pulse has a high level (with a width of 1 second in Japan, for example, 2 seconds in the United States) where one cycle corresponds to a ringer, and a low level (with a width of 2 seconds in Japan, for example) corresponding to silence. (4 seconds in the United States).

Microcomputer 22 in Figure 2 (Example: Hitachi 4-bit microcomputer HMCS44C)
is connected to receive the ringer pulse. The microcomputer 22 further has an operation mode setting input terminal, and is connected to receive a signal from an operation mode setting switch. Normally, an answering machine has multiple operating modes, and in this embodiment, it has a stop mode in which it stops functioning as an answering machine, and a stop mode in which it waits for an incoming call, and when an incoming call is received, it plays back and sends a pre-recorded message. It also has a response mode in which it performs predetermined answering operations such as recording incoming messages. Other modes include a playback mode in which the tape is played back, a rewind mode in which the tape is rewound, a sending message recording mode, and an announcement only mode in which only a message is sent when a call is received.

When one of these modes is selected by the mode setting switch, the microcomputer 22
the answering machine 10 to the selected mode.
To set the value, perform the necessary operations and generate the necessary control signals at the output terminal. This allows, for example, a tape device (not shown), a display device (not shown)
and controls the telephone line control circuit 12 in a predetermined manner.

Next, the mode switching flow executed by the microcomputer 22 will be explained with reference to FIG. First, in step 30, a ringer signal presence test is performed by checking whether the ringer pulse input terminal is at a high level or a low level. In step 32, if the ringer signal is low, it is determined that there is no ringer signal and the process returns to step 30. If it is at a high level, it is determined that there is a ringer signal and the process proceeds to the next step 34. In step 34, an operating mode check is performed by checking whether the stop mode setting flag is set. In step 36, if the stop mode setting flag is set, the process proceeds to the next step 38; if not, the process returns to the main flow or proceeds to response mode processing or announcement only mode processing. In the case of stop mode, in step 38, start counting the ringer signal duration,
This is done by triggering a counter within the microcomputer. The process then proceeds to step 40, where the validity of the ringer pulse being received is tested by checking its pulse width. That is, whether the high level part of the ringer pulse is counted, for example, within 4 seconds,
It also counts the low level portion and checks whether it is within 8 seconds, for example. Next, in step 42,
If the high level exceeds 4 seconds or the low level exceeds 8 seconds, it is determined that there is an abnormal condition or that the caller has hung up, and the process proceeds to step 44. This step 44 resets all timers and counters, including the ringer signal duration counter and the ringer pulse high and low level counters, and then returns to the main flow. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 42 that the pulse width is appropriate because the high level width is within 4 seconds and the low level width is within 8 seconds, the process proceeds to the next determination step 46. In this step 46, it is checked whether the ringer signal duration counter has reached a predetermined time count. This predetermined time is preferably selected to be longer than the calling time when a person other than the user makes a normal call, and within a range acceptable to the user. In one example, this predetermined time is 90 seconds.

If it is determined in step 46 that the predetermined time count has not been reached, the process returns to step 40.
Then, the pulse width test continues. On the other hand, if it is determined that the predetermined time count has been reached,
Jumping to processing step 48, the response mode setting flow is executed. This flow may be the same as the flow executed when the normal response mode setting switch is activated. As a result, the answering machine 10 is set to the response mode (including setting of the response mode setting flag).
If the user continues to make a call after the answering mode is set, the telephone answering machine will respond to the call by performing a predetermined operation in the answering mode. That is, in the response mode, when the microcomputer 22 detects a ringer pulse output from the ringer signal detection circuit, it connects the controllable line connection switch (telephone line control circuit 12).
By operating the above-mentioned tape device (not shown) included in the answering machine, the message is played back and transmitted to the above-mentioned voice transmitting/receiving circuit (also included in the answering machine). (included in the telephone line control circuit 12) and its line connection switch. The user can easily confirm that the switching to response mode has occurred by sending this message.

The following modifications can be made to the embodiment of the present invention described above. First, instead of the predetermined duration of the ringer signal as the mode switching condition,
Can be changed to a predetermined number of ringer signals. This can be done by changing step 38 to ``Start counting the number of ringer signals'' and changing step 46 to ``Count predetermined number of times?'' in the flowchart of FIG. 3. The predetermined number of times is, for example, 30 ringers corresponding to a duration of 90 seconds (in the case of one cycle of 3 seconds). second, third
In the mode switching flow shown in the figure, the tests in step 30 and step 34 may be performed in a main flow other than this switching flow.

Effects of the invention According to the answering machine of the present invention, it is possible to switch from stop mode to answer mode with a simple operation, and mode switching can be confirmed without requiring any additional operation. can. Therefore,
From the user's point of view, it is convenient for the user to simply keep ringing until the message is heard, and there is no need to measure the ringing time or count the number of rings.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the answering machine of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a microcomputer used in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a mode switching flow executed by a microcomputer in one embodiment of the present invention. Description of symbols, 2: Telephone device, 10: Answering machine, 12: Telephone line control circuit, 14: Ringer signal detection circuit, 16: Stop mode setting means, 18:
Response mode setting means, 20: switching means, 22: microcomputer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] 1 Telephone line control circuit 1 connected to a telephone line and performing line connection, voice transmission/reception, and reception of calling signals
2, and a ring signal detection circuit 1 connected to the circuit for detecting a ring signal from the telephone line.
4, a recording device connected to the telephone line control circuit and recording at least the transmitted message;
a response mode in which predetermined operations are performed in response to a call signal received from the telephone line, including line connection, reproduction of the outgoing message from the recording device, and recording of the incoming message by the recording device; The answering machine 10 has an operation mode including at least a stop mode in which the call signal is not responded to, and a response mode setting that generates a control signal for setting the operation mode to the response mode. means 18; (b) stop mode setting means 16 that generates a control signal for setting the operation mode to the stop mode and a stop mode instruction signal indicating the stop mode; and (c) the response mode setting means and the is connected to a ringing signal detection circuit, and when there is the control signal from the response mode setting means,
means 22 for causing the predetermined operation, including line connection in the telephone line control circuit and reproduction of the transmitted message from the recording device, to be performed in response to the detected calling signal from the calling signal detection circuit; Generating a switching signal for switching the operation mode from the stop mode to the response mode when the detected call signal from the call signal detection circuit continues for a predetermined time while the stop mode instruction signal exists. said switching means 20, wherein said switching signal actuates said response mode setting means to set said operating mode to said response mode; An answering machine, characterized in that the predetermined operation of the response mode is started when the detected call signal continues beyond the predetermined time. 2 Utility Model Registration Scope of Claim 1. The telephone answering machine according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined time is measured by the number of times the detection call signal is repeated.